Thanks to the QR funding from the Faculty of Media and Communication, I recently had the privilege to attend the Computer Graphics International 2017 in Yokohama, Japan. CGI is a prestigious conference in the graphics world for many years and attracts interest from people all over the world. We have one paper presented on the conference, as a full paper, it will be published in the Visual Computer Journal by Springer-Verlag.

We have hosted the CGI2012 at Bournemouth. CGI2017 is held at Keio University, Yokohama chaired by Prof. Issei Fujishiro and Prof. Xiaoyang Mao. The first day (27th June) events are majorly tutorials and workshops. The shining part is the keynote by Prof. Marina Gavrilova from University of Calgary, discussing how to use machine learning for social data analysis through image and video processing, especially multiple modal biometric data acquisition, feature matching, fusion and recognition. One interesting application is gender prediction using image aesthetics.

The second day’s keynote is “reconstructing reality: from physical world to virtual environments” by Prof. Ming Lin from University of North Carolina. She firstly gave an introduction on the history of VR and AR, then talked about her work on human tissue material property estimation from real surgery videos, virtual dressing, crowd and traffic pattern learning from videos of real world, finally the sound and haptic rendering in VR environment. Daniel Thalmann (chair of the conference) held the panel discussion on the future of machine learning in graphics. There were lots of other paper presentations on the second day covering many topics including image, texture, modelling, rendering, deformation and visualization.

The third day’s keynote is “Studies on Humanlike robots” by Prof. Hiroshi Ishiguro. He showed the latest state-of-the-art robot in Japan, the mimic version of himself. Obviously lots of small human robots have been used in some restaurants to entertain guest during food ordering. My student Tao Jiang presented his paper in the morning session.

I chaired a session on the fourth day on papers working on image & example based modelling. There are also some posters presented during the conference.

This is a very good opportunity to network with top experts in the world. I had good chat with many people such as Prof. Henry Fuchs (Guru in the VR world), Prof. Ming Lin, Prof. Marina Gavrilova, Prof. Kwan-Liu Ma (leading expert in the visualization, chaired the top visualization conferences in the world), Prof. Shimin Hu (Tsinghua University), Prof. Enhu Wu (Chinese Academy of Science), and also some other experts from Taiwan, Singapore, South Korea, USA and China etc. There is also a discussion with a professor from German about collaboration on 3D living environment reconstruction from old photos for dementia patient/old people. This is a very exciting and intensive experience for four full days, sharing different ideas, building links and research collaborations.

Multiple Sclerosis (MS) is a chronic debilitating and progressive condition that affects the fatty tissue sheath surrounding nerves. Loss of the myelin sheath is largely responsible for uncoordinated movements because the nerves cannot transmit signals smoothly across the complex neural circuitry. A common symptom of MS is excessive yawning together with fatigue.

Research study

Following recent completion of a study at the Osborne Centre, West Parley, we found that people with MS had higher cortisol levels when yawning compared with healthy participants.

Previous research at Bournemouth University

This research follows several years of research by the author at Bournemouth University with the first report on the “yawning envelope”, identifying the electrical trace during yawning (Refs. 1-2), and the first report on the association between yawning and cortisol levels following provoked yawning (Refs. 3-6).

Yawning “envelope”

“Contagious” yawning is seen in animals as well humans; it may involve empathy to perceived social cues in humans.

Yawning: (clockwise) Fox, Pig, Human, Hippopotamus

A series of 3 Q and A events with talks about findings was held at the MS Society local branch which facilitated an interesting and lively debate among participants, researchers and staff at the Centre.

Further research planned

We believe that threshold levels of cortisol trigger the yawn response which lowers brain temperature, particularly important in MS where brain temperatures can be elevated considerably following fatigue. A funding bid is in preparation to examine early detection of MS using these findings.

About the author

Simon B N Thompson is Associate Professor, Bournemouth University; and Visiting Professor, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France. He has presented to His Excellency Bernard Emié, the French Ambassador at the French Embassy, signalling formation of the Anglo-French International Scientific Council for Research into Multiple Sclerosis.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all volunteers; Alister Coleman and Nicola Williams for assisting in data collection and analysis; Rod Slip, Group Co-ordinator and Kay Bundy, Fundraising Co-ordinator of the MS Society Osborne Centre for providing free facilities.

Gemmeleg is a composition by Laura Reid cellist/composer for the performance system The Feral Cello developed by Dr Tom Davis.

This piece was performed at the prestigious Black Diamond concert venue in Copenhagen as part of the international conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression, NIME.

The Feral Cello is a performance system developed by Tom Davis that incorporates machine listening and actuated feedback to alter the response of an acoustic cello in real time during a performance. A description of the performance system was also presented as a poster at the conference.

Previous performances have been at NoiseFloor 2017, Staffordshire University.

Joanne Holmes from the Ageing and Dementia Research Centre ( ADRC) was invited to present a workshop entitled ‘The Mealtime Experience – what is the impact on an individual’s health and wellbeing?’ at the Partners in Care Quality Matters Conference at Poole Lighthouse. Those attending the workshop represented a range of social care providers and commissioners from across the region. During the workshop participants engaged in lively discussion about the barriers and enablers to good nutritional care for those receiving social care in both the residential setting and home care. Various activities were undertaken including tasting and smelling foods to highlight these barriers. Suggestions were made on how to improve the meal time experience informed by research on nutrition and dementia care, funded by the Burdett Trust for Nursing ( PI Prof Jane Murphy and Co-PI Joanne Holmes) and Joanne’s own PhD studies: An exploration of the factors that affect the extensive meal experience for cognitively active elderly living in residential care.

Both Joanne and Jane were on hand to answer any questions about good nutritional care for the older person throughout the conference and represent the ADRC at this key regional showcase event.

Are you interested in getting involved in a museum and university partnership? Do you want to meet and develop potential collaborators in museums, or other institutions and organisations across the UK? Then why not look at signing up for the final Museum-University Partnership Initiative (MUPI) Match Event in London.

There are many benefits to museums and universities working together, from improving audience understanding to developing more effective collections knowledge or interpretation; from inspiring museum audiences with cutting edge research to developing new exhibits and exhibitions; the opportunities are endless.

However, finding a partner and having the resources to explore how you might work together can be challenging. This final MUPI match event draws upon a tried and tested methodology to bring people together to develop new partnerships. Each session involves museum staff, volunteers, and academics working together to find mutually beneficial ideas that they would like to develop together.

This event focuses specifically on some of the most popular themes from our regional Matches that explore the idea of ‘Working Across Boundaries’ in different ways:

Open to: postgraduate students, postdoctoral and established researchers from any discipline; all museums which are Accredited, Provisionally Accredited, or Working Towards Accreditation; across England.

Funding:

MUPI Match events provide an opportunity for teams formed at the event to bid for funding (of between £500-£1500) from the MUPI Match fund. A pot of £6000 is available for this event. This ‘thinking funding’ will enable people to do desk research; have conversations; travel and attend site visits/meetings; test ideas; and work together to plan their potential project. This thinking funding provides a critical part of the process, helping people to work out if and how to work together and refine their ideas. Teams will be supported to develop their partnership, and find effective ways to fund their project in the future.

How to get involved:

If you work or volunteer in an ACE Accredited museum, or if you are an academic who is keen to develop new partnerships with museums then a MUPI Match event is just what you are looking for! The event is focused on bringing together museums and academics from across England; it is free to participate in; and interactive. Bring your ideas, your energy, and your expertise and prepare to be challenged and inspired. Who knows this could be the beginning of something very special!

MUPI Match events are delivered through the Museum University Partnership Initiative, funded by Arts Council England’s Museum Resilience Fund and developed in partnership with the Share Academy project and Paddy McNulty Associates.

MS is a chronic debilitating and progressive condition that affects the fatty tissue sheath surrounding nerves. Incomplete innervation due to loss of the myelin sheath is largely responsible for uncoordinated movements. Brain temperature fluctuations are also often seen in people with MS together with fatigue when carrying out mentally or physically demanding tasks. These are commonly associated with excessive yawning yet the cause of fatigue in MS is not well understood.

A recently completed study asked participants to produce saliva into a small tube so that their cortisol levels could be analysed. They were also asked to look at presentations that provoked a yawning response. Results revealed that all of the participants had elevated cortisol levels after yawning and that there was a marked difference in cortisol levels between the healthy participants and those with MS.

Yawning: Pynq Thompson aged 28 days

Thompson Cortisol Hypothesis (Ref.1) proposes threshold levels of cortisol trigger the yawn response which lowers brain temperature. Correlation between brain temperature and cortisol is to be further examined together with comparison between UK and Norwegian participants with MS since the incidence of MS is greater in Scandinavian countries (and Canada and Scotland) possibly due to vitamin D and K reduction with reduced sunlight.

Previous studies have examined electromyograph (EMG) activity during yawning and manipulation of conditions to provoke yawning (Refs. 2,3). Brain regions and cortisol activity has been identified in MS in an international study (Ref. 4); and a new understanding proposed of communication between the motor cortex and brain-stem (Ref.5).

Yawning EMG “envelope” of activity

We have recently completed a trial in Bournemouth that recruited over 80 healthy participants and over 30 people with Multiple Sclerosis (MS).

A funding bid is being prepared to examine the feasibility of producing the early detection of MS and cortisol-insufficiency syndromes using observed yawning frequency and cortisol levels.

Simon B N Thompson is Associate Professor, Bournemouth University; Visiting Professor, Université Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense, France. Member of International Scientific Council for Research into Multiple Sclerosis following presentation to French Ambassador, His Excellency Bernard Emié, French Embassy.

Acknowledgements

Thanks to all volunteers; Alister Coleman and Nicola Williams for assisting in data collection and analysis; Rod Slip, Group Co-ordinator and Kay Bundy, Fundraising Co-ordinator of the MS Society Osborne Centre for providing free facilities.

Note

The author would welcome interest in collaborating in writing bids for funding international work.

Last week Senior Midwifery lecturer Dr Luisa Cescutti-Butler, member of CMMPH, had the opportunity to attend and present at the prestigious international 3 day conference organised by MAINN @ UCLAN. Nutrition and Nurture in Infancy and Childhood: Bio-Cultural Perspectives. It took place in the beautiful surrounds of Grange-Over-Sands in Cumbria. It was attended by speakers and researchers from India, Australia, Sweden, South Africa, USA, Canada as well as the UK and therefore an ideal networking opportunity. The title of Luisa’s presentation was “Is it 2 breastfeeds and then a bottle, or is it one breastfeed and a bottle? Not sure”?, based on her PhD study, supervised by Professor Ann Hemingway, Dr. Jaqui Hewitt-Taylor. The paper reported on women’s experiences of feeding their late preterm baby/babies (LPBs), born between 340/7 and 36 6/7 weeks gestation, especially pertinent as the rates for these births is rising. A feminist approach to the study had been utilised using in depth two phase qualitative interviews.

Luisa says of the conference: ‘ I got to meet researchers that I have used widely within my PhD such as Renee Flacking from Sweden who has undertaken research around preterm babies, Virginia Schmied internationally renowned midwifery professor and Professor Paula Meier who has extensively researched late preterm babies and breastfeeding. She came and listened to my presentation and enjoyed it. Thought my findings were very interesting but was a little dismayed that practice had not moved forward. It was also a good opportunity to meet up with twitter buddies such as Laura Godfrey-Isaacs @godfrey_issacs, who took the photos!’

Luisa may be contacted further about her study but the findings indicate that women caring for LPBs frequently encountered contradictory advice regarding infant feeding and often felt their own experiences, intuition and instincts were devalued. The research concludes that the practice of feeding of LPBs should be revisited in partnership with women, so their experiences and perspectives can be utilised to develop satisfying nurturing relationships whilst also meeting nutritional requirements and that breastfeeding is a feminist, human rights issue. The full abstract is published in the conference proceedings.

BU academic presented at ‘Belonging in a post-Brexit-vote Britain: researching race, ethnicity and migration in a changing landscape’ conference at the University of Sheffield (co-organised by the British Sociological Association and the Migration Research Group)

I presented an on-going project, Migrant and Refugee Leisure Spaces and Community Well-being at ‘Belonging in a post-Brexit-vote Britain: researching race, ethnicity and migration in a changing landscape’ conference at the University of Sheffield in May. A report of the conference can be found here: https://www.sheffield.ac.uk/socstudies/scsnews/bsa-migration-conference-1.701133

[Dr. Jaeyeon Choe, Senior Academic presenting at Sheffield]

The ‘Migrant and Refugee Leisure Spaces and Community Well-being’ presentation got much interest from the audience, who were primarily sociologists. Discussions flowed around “how” leisure spaces and practices can help migrants integrate into communities and enhance their well-being, and how migrants define social inclusion, integration and well-being differently from scholarly (often middle class and ‘white’) definitions. Other discussions surrounded how some cultures have segregated and have ‘invisible’ leisure spaces whilst others prefer generic space to gather.

Prof. Louise Ryan in Sociology at University of Sheffield emphasised that we need to develop comparative lenses and more holistic and international perspectives from different scales. We need to talk across fields and disciplines to move forward to understand migrants’ lives, well-being and integration.“The impact of the referendum, means that researchers on intra-EU migration, those working on refugee studies and on ‘race’ and ethnic studies, need to come together to share insights and collaborate to develop new analytical frameworks to understanding the evolving implications of Brexit.”

The tourism and leisure field has much to offer and contribute in the exploration of migrant lives and their integration in the UK. Existing research suggests that leisure spaces provide migrants with opportunities for developing, expressing and negotiating their personal, social and cultural preferences safely whilst gaining recognition and a sense of belonging. This is especially important as they may confront issues relating to belongingness, societal membership, social status, self-perception and cultural confusion. Leisure can be instrumental to (re)establishing connections and networks with locals as well as other migrants and refugees, and provide spaces for problem solving. Leisure opportunities and spaces support the development of cultural capital to allow migrants to feel safe enough to contemplate building a productive life. Thus, leisure spaces can play an important role in integration. The role of leisure in integration also reflects the receiving community feeling unthreatened by migration.

I also participated in an Early Career Researcher Mentoring session with Prof. Louise Ryan during the conference. I found the session very useful as I received advice on research, publishing and networking in the migration studies field and beyond. Prof. Ryan also shared helpful insights and advice on career development strategies in the UK, especially for migrant young female researchers with similar profiles to me. This was an unusual programme during an academic conference that can be widely utilised by other conference and workshop organizers. I found the session extremely helpful in aiding my understanding of the academic culture in the UK and how to adapt to it as a young researcher from a migrant background.

Another interesting feature of the conference was a photographer as a keynote speaker. Jeremy Abrahams (theatre & portrait photographer) shared powerful visual work of the impact of Brexit entitled, ‘Remain/Leave’.

A keynote by Dr. Jon Fox at University of Bristol emphasised ‘Everyday Racism’ and how it has increased after the EU Referendum. He discussed pathological integration: East Europeans, racism & becoming British.

Finally, fellow conference delegates took photos of my presentation and posted them with useful comments/questions on the conference twitter page. After I mentioned a Bourenmouth University migrant well-being project twitter account, 10 immediately followed us, and had led to interesting and useful connections with fellow researchers with similar interests. 🙂 It was not only productive in getting feedback and comments on our on-going research project, but also great to meet migrant studies researchers to network.

For more information about our migrant and refugee leisure spaces and community
well-being project, please follow the Facebook Group: ‘Migrant Leisure Spaces’, Twitter: @migrantspaces and the project web page: https://research.bournemouth.ac.uk/project/migrant-refugee-leisure-wellbeing/

BU academics from the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences had a strong presence at the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) in Canada this lunch time. They presented four separate academic posters today at the ICM conference in Toronto. First, Dr. Alison Taylor presented her poster ‘Mothers need to talk, midwives need to listen: Insights from breastfeeding mother’s video diaries’. Secondly, Sara Stride and Dr. Sue Way presented their poster on ‘UUPP Study: Updating the Understanding of Perineal Practice at the time of birth across the United Kingdom’.

Prof. Vanora Hundley, Dr. Ann Luce (BU Faculty of Media & Communication), Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and two students, Sofie Edlund and Sian Ridden also presented their poster on ‘Changing the narrative around birth: midwives’ views of working with the media’. And, last but not least, Prof. Vanora Hundley and Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen also contributed to a poster produced by Dr. Andrew Symon and colleagues from across the UK: ‘Midwifery-led antenatal care models: Mapping a systematic review to an evidence-based quality framework to identify key components and characteristics of care’.

Dr. Alison Taylor of the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) presented her poster today on breastfeeding on the first day of the International Confederation of Midwives (ICM) conference. Alison’s poster ‘Early breastfeeding support for first-time UK mothers: A study based on video diaries’ was well received in Toronto (Canada).

The ICMLive produces webcasts of some of the major conference. This week you can watch events live here.

Today sees the start of the triennial ICM (International Confederation of Midwives) conference in Toronto. BU is well represented in Canada through academics based in the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal and Perinatal Health (CMMPH) presenting posters, papers and workshops. The ICM programme can be accessed on line, click here!

Over the next few days BU staff will present on a collaboration with the Anglo-European College of Chiropractic: ‘Newborn feeding clinic service evaluation: Midwives working in partnership with chiropractors to enhance breastfeeding experiences of mothers & babies in the UK’.

Dr. Rachel Arnold presents on her PhD research at Bournemouth University under the title ‘Ensuring high-quality respectful care in a climate of fear and intimidation’. On Wednesday Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen reports on the maternal mental health training conducted in Nepal in 2016-2017 under the title ‘Mental health training for community maternity workers in Nepal’. Dr. Jenny Hall is co-organiser of a symposium Spirituality and Childbirth with Prof. Susan Crowther and Dr. Celine Lemay.

Moreover there will be many BU poster presentations this week including ones by:

Dr. Rachel Arnold and her PhD supervisors on ‘Women’s rights: the impact of management systems, managers’ practice and attitudes on midwives’;

Dr. Alison Taylor and her PhD supervisors on ‘Early breastfeeding support for first-time UK mothers: A study based on video diaries’ AND a further posters on ‘Mothers need to talk, midwives need to listen: Insights from breastfeeding mother’s video diaries’;

Sara Stride and Dr. Sue Way on ‘UUPP Study: Updating the Understanding of Perineal Practice at the time of birth across the United Kingdom’

Profs. Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen also contributed to a poster produced by Dr. Andrew Symon and colleagues from across the UK: ‘Midwifery-led antenatal care models: Mapping a systematic review to an evidence-based quality framework to identify key components and characteristics of care’.

‘Where are we now?’ was the theme of the 2017 International IPA conference this week. The short answer: at Glasgow Caledonian University. The long answer: using a qualitative methodology initially confined to healthcare research but which is now enjoying exponential growth across diverse disciplines. Talks over the two days ranged from advance care planning to museum visitor research, with one particularly innovative study by Hilda Reilly (PhD candidate, University of Glasgow). Her work uses narrative to explore the medical concept of hysteria. Reilly talked about the case of Anna von Lieben, one of Freud’s most significant patients. She demonstrated how accounts such as poetry and diaries left by the deceased can form data for analysis and interpretation.

Just a stone’s throw from Glasgow city’s own necropolis or ‘city of the dead’ (pictured), it was a fitting metaphor for one of the key aims of IPA: to make heard the quietest of voices. It let me reflect on the voices which I am working to make heard through my own PhD studentship project; those from successful, persistent students from low-income backgrounds who are under-represented throughout higher education (HE), but have great value in widening participation in HE and as part of a greater commitment to social equality.

Such novel approaches fit well with Dr Michael Larkin’s keynote exploring new developments in design and data collection in IPA research. The lecture and Q&A was particularly relevant to my own research, as it explored less common topic formulations in IPA research; namely when the phenomenon is a background phenomenon or an external theoretical construct (in my case, ‘resilience’). The recommendation to use explicitly narrative and reflective strategies rang true with my own approach to data collection.

Likewise, Professor Jonathan Smith delivered his keynote on personal experience of depression, offering rich, textured accounts of participants. He urged us as researchers to ‘dig deeper’ and ‘mine’ our participant data. In interviews, he reminded us “it is easy to talk to people; it is demanding to get high quality data”. Professor Paul Flowers closed the conference by provoking us to move from questioning ‘where are we now?’ to ‘where do we go from here?’ And, for me at least, this signifies a move towards drawing deep, ‘juicy’ interpretations from my data, to maximise the potential impact of my research.

Following on from the successful Service Excellence Conference held in April, we are holding a further event to build on the theme of kindness. If you are an academic interested in kindness or undertaking research which is linked to kindness please come along to a follow up event on 7th June 10-3 to share your interests and to explore ways in which we can work across the university to develop the theme of ‘kindness’ further.

The event will explore kindness and self-kindness and will include a holistic appreciation of self and others. Alongside practical sessions to explore the concepts of kindness and self-kindness, the day will provide a creative space for academics and professional service staff to come together to explore synergies in research and practice development activities linked to kindness. We hope the event will provide a springboard for future co-creation around kindness across the university.

It was with great pleasure that I presented at the recent Higher Education Academy ‘What Works – Student Retention and Success’ Conference in London. Discussing successful interventions from across the sector , it was a wonderful time to discuss and explore current initiatives. With key notes given by leading specialists Prof Patricia Broadfoot , Prof Liz Thomas, and Prof Les Ebdon, I found the day to be invaluable in discussing the future of HE particularly against a backdrop of upcoming challenges and increasing pressure to improve retention rates.

My presentation was on the BU Placement PAL programme and how this was our first year in full implementation across the Faculties of Management, Media and Communication, and Science and Technology. Discussing the lessons learned and aims in taking the scheme further, the session was well attended by approximately 50 delegates. From the Q&A session, it was clear that we are one of the first UK institutions to offer such a scheme and as a result, I have had numerous inquiries.

As I am looking at peer to peer coaching and mentoring regarding employability in my doctoral research, one of my highlights of the day was when Professor Patricia Broadfoot attended my session and voiced her support, given that in today’s climate, UK HEIs will need to be creative in how to best support students.

BU research will be prominent at UK Kidney Week this summer in Liverpool. The conference is led by the Renal Association with the International Society of Nephrology (ISN) and the British Transplant Society (BTS). We’re delighted to have been invited to speak at the conference, which is a great opportunity to showcase our research as well as BU’s commitment to developing biomedical research themes. We’re also contributing several abstracts, detailing collaborations with the Universities of Bristol, Oxford and Osnabruck, Germany. The work focuses on the molecular cell biology of human podocytes, cells critical for our kidney’s role in blood filtration. When podocytes ‘fail’, kidney failure ensues.

This week professors Vanora Hundley and Edwin van Teijlingen from the Centre for Midwifery, Maternal & Perinatal Health (CMMPH) were invited to the Primary Healthcare Workshop in Kathmandu. This Primary Healthcare Workshop ‘Delivering Primary Health Care in hard-to-reach areas of Nepal: Opportunities & Challenges’ was organised by the non-governmental organisation PHASE and the Nepal Health Research Council (NHRC). Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen and BU Visiting Professor Padam Simkhada (who is based at Liverpool John Moores University) were invited to offer an international perspective on this workshop held in coordination with the Ministry of Health, Nepal.

Edwin made a comparison between the difficulties in access to primary care, recruiting and retention of staff in remote Nepal and his previous work on maternity care in remote and rural Scotland. He argued that some of these issues are universal, but more difficult to deal with in low-income countries like Nepal. The workshop took place at the Nepal Health Research Council.

Former host cities include Brussels, Rome, Gothenburg, Athens and Bremen – it is great to have this event right on our doorstep this year. RKEO are delighted to have been awarded the opportuntity to host a workshop at this this prestigious conference:

Maritime Ideas Café

Introduction and objectives:

The Maritime Ideas Café will bring interested delegates together to promote collective thinking on key issues around the maritime agenda. With several relevant funding calls currently live, the workshop will generate ideas for shared research projects, ultimately aiming to develop into a proposal for funding.

The workshop will open with a short introduction to a range of current funding opportunities, followed by an overview from Bournemouth University researchers to outline key areas of interest. Delegates will then have the chance to discuss their own ideas in the context of the expertise in the room, explore common interests and create an action plan for future collaboration.

What’s it all about?

The aim of this ideas café is to bring interested people together to promote collective thinking on key issues around the maritime agenda. With several relevant funding calls currently live, the workshop will generate ideas for shared research projects, ultimately aiming to develop into a proposal for funding.

The workshop will open with a short introduction to a range of current funding opportunities, followed by an overview from Bournemouth University researchers to outline key areas of interest. Delegates will then have the chance to discuss their own ideas in the context of the expertise in the room, explore common interests and create an action plan for future collaboration.

If you would like to attend this event, you will need to register on the external site (includes requirement for passport details).

You are most welcome to come along to the BU workshop – so that we can look out for you, please let Genna or Emily in RKEO know that you plan to be there!

On the last day of BU’s Global Festival of Learning-India 2017 Prof. Edwin van Teijlingen presented the following paper: ‘Nepali migrant workers: trials & tribulations’. The Global Festival of Learning-India 2017 took place at Symbiosis School for Liberal Arts in Pune and at the India Habitat Centre in the capital Delhi. The session offered insight from various studies on Nepali migrant workers conducted by Bournemouth University staff and students.[1-3] It included preliminary results from an on-going study of Nepali migrant workers in India. The latter study is a close collaboration between Pramod Regmi and Edwin van Teijlingen) in the Faculty of Health & Social Sciences, Indian colleagues at Datta Meghe Institute of Medical Sciences, Deemed University in India (Quazi Syed Zahiruddin, Abhay M. Gaidhane), and Padam Simkhada at Liverpool John Moores University (LJMU).

The presentation also highlighted some of the key findings form our recently published paper ‘Identifying the gaps in Nepalese migrant workers’ health and well-being: A review of the literature’ in the Journal of Travel Medicine.[1] The paper is co-authored by BU’s Pramod Regmi and Edwin van Teijlingen, and Padam Simkhada (LJMU) and our Nepali colleague Nirmal Aryal based in New Zealand.

Dr. Shweta Sinda Deshpande, who chaired the session, originated from an Indian village a few miles from the Nepali border. Moreover, she is also an anthropologist who had done fieldwork with Nepali migrant workers in India. Her informed contribution was very much welcomed by the audience.